Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-10-16
FROM POTATOVILLE.
LUKE CeNNBRS AND HIS MISCHIByOUS
GANG.
How Blubbsr ShSaghnsSSy Blseksd Luke From Head
to FoOt-Ths Boss Of the Village
ScanPs Gives His Aged
Mother q Fright

Luke NOuutIS ua1 DCcu Il ASSktCuL "
PotatOville only week when every DO!
in the village looked up to him as hi
natural born chief, his absolute dictator
hisguide and his philosopher.
Luke's word was Law unto them
Something in his character made the lad
afraid of him and something in his con
yersatiOn made them regard him rs one
possessed of uncommon information and
remarkable force.
Luke was poor, but he had for subjects
the youthful sciOns of the rich aud well-to
do. lie was ragged, but the well-dressec
boys acknowledged his sway and Obeyet
him implicitly. He had never been t.
school, but the pupils OF the public schOO
VIII had taken many good" and pre-
MUM, considered his knowledge unlimited
He WAS tyrannical, but the members of hi:
little realm bore his yoke like subjects who
never stopped to question the divine right
of rulers He was not handsome lad, but
none thought of making fun of his soiled
and homely face.
How did he get his prestige, then?
Well, in the first place, Luke could hight
much better than most boys OF his age and
had only been in Potatoville two days
when he had whipped the bully Of the vii
Iage, robbed three orchards and deted the
constable who tried to discover the names
of his accomplices. Then he could tell
such stories. Stories that passed for Cos
Del and contained such profound morals
Having recently arriyen from Ireland, he
WAS ''chOcker-block" full OF tales of the
fairies and the ''panshee." As he told the
stories of his mother land the eyes Of his
listeners grew big in their sockets and
many an ear expanded widely AZ If to catch
the lightest word, while every mouth was
open hig enough to swallow MunChauseu
himself.
Luke, therefore, was king, or as the boys
expressed it, boss, " and many time the
village youths stole away from their cheer
fully glowing firesides to HE themselves to
a deserted dog house in Billy Smuthers
ward, where this Hibernian rOmancer and
pOtentate narrated his yarns that had be
come mOSs-grown in COnnemara and gray
bearded in Kerry. But to the youths Of
Potatoyille these Evolutionary tales were
as the revelation of an apocalypse OF as the
solution OF an Ignatius DOnnelly-Baeoni-
an-Shakespeare key.
In all the capers cut up in the village
Luke was the master hand, but If anybody
suffered for such Juvenile trespasses it wa
ALWAYS Luke's subalterns. The boss
himself wore charmed life, that is, for s
long time. and then only was he chastised
BY a full-dedged man. 1t was by ruse
too, that the thing was done.
Near one end Of Cherry street stood {
small oue-story building, in which build
ing, ~ shop, rs the boys called it, Mike
Shaughnessy made shoes. 1t had beer
painted white, and its door was still al
enyiOus green.
1t was not much larger than q kitchen
but was large enough to accommodate
three men and boy at work, while Cos
siping visitors might find seats on shO'
boxes. In the centre was rough irUI
stove, which grew red in winter and OF
, autumn nights when there was decided
chill in the air. The shop WAS plastered
and on the plastering were pasted show
bills, clippings from newspapers, wOOC
cuts of negro comedians, prize fighters
cheap portraits, with here and there thu
likeness of a celebrity culled from TIM
fertile gardens Of COlumbia's or Erin:
glory. 10 was no place where "brogans'
and honest dollars were made, and wher'
politics were discussed 1t was IN such l
place a future vice president gave promls'
OF subsequent greatness IN the councils o
a mighty nation, and 10 such I place
many future seltctmen cOmeto toll.
Luke, or his gang" whom Shaugh
messy called parcel OF "blackguards, ,
did not dare enter the shop. ShauSh
messy WAS a menace anal terror to the Yil
lage lads, and many were the stories tOll
OF his Atrocities The boys regarded hin
AS fiend who would ask nothing bette
than to satiate his inhuman appetite Of
juvenile gore Now while this unenyiabI
reputation protected Shaughnessy from au
noyance by the miSChicyOus gang" insid
of the shop, IL was the occasion Of nj
sorts OF depredatiOns outside. The lad
hOwled like Indians on the street, fire
uuently saluting him with the name Q
"Blubber" ShaUghUesSy-an appellatlO
suggested by Mikes immense proportions
In vain did Blubber chase tine boys
They were tleet Of foot and he, like Ham
let, was 'Scant Of breath" Nevertheless
he made the gang" fear him so much tina
IL had To resort to stealth Every arttu
mode OF annoyance that youthful cunnin
could invent was brought into requisitiOr
Tin pans hung upon the door, ropes tie
across his gateway to trip his "iatness,
and last but most frequent, the irritatiu
"tic-tac" The "tic.tac' consisted OF
fish-hOok and line. from which line wa
suspended a pebble, or any similar thin
capable of making noise. Said tish-hO0
was secretly and deity affixed to q windO'
sash of the shop, on the outside, of cOurs,
Then the gang retreated several garden
away, and hiding behind a fence, pulle
the line and waited developments. TIL
striking of the pebble against the windo'
pane startled ShaugnsSsy, and You ma
bet he used no fine phrases when he hear
the sound that the gang by this tim
made familiar to his ears
lie usually threw down the shoe upO
which he was working and rushing to tn
door, followed the direction OF the ia
line. But the gang had fled, leaving tn
fish line, and in their haste upsetting eac
other, scrambliug over the picket fences
landing probably in the deep mud ola ho
pen, or in such proximity TO tenanted dOl
house as made life miserable until the ueN
fence was cleared.
ShaughuesSy went back to his shop, an
when his anger had moderated and h
profanity abated, usually broke fort
thus:
Thin byes are Inns from the diyil.
man can't iniOy whot little cOomfort h
own property intitle him to without beir
in hot wawther wId thin blaggards troI
mOrrin' till night II | live till morniI
I'll have q warrint out fur livery won
thin"
But there was no warrant the next day
and the boys continued their pranks Ut
molested. ShsugneSsy knew that LUX
VS. at the bottom Of it all, and that th
gang included such desperadOes {
Bullock O'Bren. Curly" Parke'
Mel" GriEith and Diver" Mcguire {